


Next life begins at twenty

by Redfoxline



Category: Final Fantasy VIII
Genre: canon story, slices of life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-25
Updated: 2016-08-25
Packaged: 2018-08-11 01:25:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7870168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Redfoxline/pseuds/Redfoxline
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for The Successor Challenge 2016. Sharing a room for the night, Rinoa finds an unexpected item that reminds her of happier time. Maybe the joy and freedom of childhood weren't something her teammates were stolen from, they were just waiting for it to happen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Next life begins at twenty

**Author's Note:**

> This fanfiction has been written for The Successor Challenge 2016 and first published on my Tumblr account.  
> It's definitely good to go back to writing, but since English isn't my maternal language, I assume you will find some (a lot of) mistakes. If there is any generous beta out there that would be willing to help me out, I'm definitely saying yes, please!
> 
> And I'm only 3 days too late to say: Happy Birthday Squall!

When the door of the dormitory slides open, all Rinoa can think about is to let herself fall onto the nearest mattress, and sleep.

Luckily, she was able to rest a little on the infirmary floor earlier, using Angelo’s belly as a pillow. She knew she had barely made it: without Zell’s speed to warn the others abut her, and Squall’s rescue, she would been smashed by that missile from the G-army spider tank. Or her arm ripped off from the rest of her body. She doesn’t want to think about it right now. All the bravado she had felt during their battles has drained off. The kind nurse may had tended her wounds -only scratches, really- but her knees had begun to shake so bad that she had to sit it out before making her way to the dormitories.

Angelo suddenly gives her a push with its head, efficiently bringing her back from her daydreaming. Quistis smiles at her, obviously she is not upset Rinoa didn’t listen to her, and repeats:

“They already took my room to place the injured” she repeats. Her red training outfit is now grey from dirt, and she looks as exhausted as Rinoa feels. “So I will not be able to propose you to share. I am however sure we can find someone that can welcome you into their den for the night. It will be easier to find a guest bedroom for you once everything is calmed down, but with everything that happened today, we have a lot of wounded cadets that cannot be spend the night in the infirmary.”

“It’s fine” the young rebel hears herself replying. “After D-District and this, I could sleep everywhere.”

She is so far from the picky girl she was in the Forest Owl, refusing to give up on the comfort of a fully furnished bedroom, a bathroom and three meals a day. She was limping from a side, her ankle certainly bruised from her spectacular fall, and she could taste the smell of powder clinging onto her clothes.

She didn’t even cared that she hadn’t showered in three days.

Quistis let out a small laugh.

“Me as well.We definitely deserve a good night sleep.” Now that they have worked together to get out of the prison, the former instructor seemed much more fond of her. “The third room on the right is mine: take a shower and use my towel. There should be a fitness outfit on a chair that you can borrow for the night. I will try to find if someone has some space for an extra mattress in their bedroom. See you in five!”.

She was gone before Rinoa could thank her. Knowing that the injured cadets would be brought in Quistis’ bedroom shortly, she quickly used the shower and changed into the promised cleaned outfit. The beauty of the modern equipment was lost to her, as she was too tired to care about anything else but her coming rest.

She cared, however, when she was brought to Squall’s bedroom.

Apparently it was the only place that wasn’t full yet, an with the whole Norg vs Cid fight, the rules could be damned, they mixed genders in the rooms for the night. She supposes Seeds are used to this kind of emergency measures, because no one bats an eye when she enters the forbidden den of the Lion.

Only to find it has already been invaded: Selphie is happily humming while brushing her hair, cross-legged the first mattress on the floor. Another one is spread on her right, with Squall sit on it, back leaned onto the wall and eyes closed. Rinoa blushes hard when she notices Selphie is only wearing a yellow t-shirt with a bright-pink pantie. There is a boy in the room for Hyne’s sake! Even if it’s Squall, the one who is less likely to check out girls, it’s still a matter of common decency. Or so she thinks.

“Hi Rinny!” Selphie beams, but even her smile seems to lack its usual glow. “Congratulations: you got the best roommates ever! Oooh, and you brought Angelo!”

Rinoa sees Squall’s eyes snapping open and darting towards Angelo, who is hiding behind her legs and starts growling out at the mercenary. Why the two of them can not get along, is a mystery to her. Angelo is usually sweet towards anyone as long as they don’t threaten her, and Squall is very laid back as far as animals are concerned -Selphie even told her Squall gave a treat to a street dog during their field exam. They started on the wrong foot, or should she say the wrong paw?

“The dog stays out.”

“What?” “Please let him stay!” both girls cries and Squall obviously winces from the force of it.

“It’s against regulation to keep pets inside the dormitories.”

“Technically Angelo is not a Seed’s pet, but out client’s” Selphie is fast to retort. “He is not concerned by the rules. Besides he will probably wines to be let in if he stays at the door, and the room next to us is full of injured cadets.”

That is enough to win the argument. Squall sighed and grumbles something that sounds like a “whatever” before tucking himself under the cover and putting an arm above his eyes.

“Take the bed. “The petite martial artist gently nudges. “Our host needs his beauty sleep, and us too.”

Rinoa hesitates for a bit. Not because she is ashamed to take someone else’s bed -she is too tired to care- but because she knows Angelo is likely to follow her in, as he is used to sleep at her feet. But the dog apparently senses his mistress’s uncertainty and find a place on the floor, at the two soldiers’ feet. She climbs up, the hard mattress as soft as feathers to her hurting limbs, when she feels it.

A hard bulge under the pillow. For a brief instant she is stunned by the shape of it. It can’t be a dildo, can it? Before digging it out to reveal the end of…

…a jumping rope.

A bright orange jumping rope.

The memory of her seventh birthday comes to her mind. Her mother had gifted her with the same toy, only it was a sparkling pink one, to play during recess at school. Her and her friends had used it until the ends came loose. The rope had not been fixed, and then had been forgotten somewhere in her toy box after the general Caraway gave her roller-skates for her following birthday.

“Uh?”

“Oh” pipes Selphie “Squall, why do you hide your jumping rope under your pillow?”

That managed to make Squall slightly lift his arm and give an eyeful to the offending object. He didn’t seem embarrassed by Rinoa’s finding, and was soon to close his eyes again.

“It must have fallen from the cupboard during the attack. I cleaned up before you came in, but I didn’t see it there. Just put it on the nightstands.”

“Ok but…is it rude if I ask why you have a jumping rope?”

If she didn’t fell like an idiot already, the silence that followed her question would have.

From beneath his arm, Squall blinks in honest surprise. He sat up to answer her, mentally waving goodbye to his promised sleep. He didn’t look like he was thinking she was dumb- he never did. His expression didn’t betrayed his impatience. Since their escape, he had tried to teach her more about fighting and monsters, so she would develop her fighting potential. It was a sign of respect, she knew, but not as much as his willingness to answer her questions about Seed, or himself.

“Rope-jumping is extremly efficient for cardio-training.” he explained. “It improved endurance and help muscle development. You might have seen that some athletes also use them: boxers, for instance.”

She is nodding her acceptance of his works, but doesn’t remember a time she saw boxers on TV or in real life. Caraway had gotten her quite locked up in her early teenage years though, so this is not very surprising.

“What did you think it was for, silly?”

She grins back at Selphie, her embarrassment gone.

“Believe it or not, but I used to rope-jumping a lot when I was a kid. I got a rope for one of my birthday, and it was my favorite toy for a time! Mine was neon pink with glitter though. Not so much for military training.” She slides the rope on the nightstand and herself under the covers. It’s a little bit too tight to her liking but the pillow is so comfortable, she feels like a cat on a fluffy cushion. “If I had new this, I would have picked it back before going to the Forest Owl to train.”

“Oh yeah, I heard it was a pretty common toy for citizens, but I’ve never played with one myself at Trabia. I guess for us we see it more like a tool, it doesn’t come to mind to actually play with it.”

“What did you play with, then?”

The adrenaline from the fight has long worn off, and yet some energy is coming back to the teenagers. At least to Rinoa and Selphie, who are both eager to chichat. Squall doesn’t look much interested by the whole conversation, but he doesn’t put a term to it either, so Rinoa thinks doesn’t mind it.

“We don’t play a lot at Garden.” Selphie’s voice never wavers, but it does sounds off. “Except for Hide-and-Seek or Triple Triad Cards.”

“We had games, but no toys.” Squall chiming in is unexpected on the subject. Rinoa feels the urge to know more.

“Entertainment is not forbidden of course, who can live without it? That’s why we enjoy parties so much! But if it doesn’t have an extra value, like improving a certain skills or making money, it’s not really…the priority.”

The sheeplish smiles Selphie is sending her lets Rinoa know the nunchaky master can already tell how she feels about this situation. Sometimes it is hard to remember the teenager underneath but tonight, her arms around her knees like a child, she never looks this young. What is it, to be raised to be a kill machine, she wonders? Sometimes the members of their little group talk so…mature, that she can only feel disoriented. Where is the fun and the jokes, the immaturity and the dreams, the “maybe later I will” and “when I grow up I will”?

Squall looks unaffected by the heavy air in the atmosphere. He just blinks, before settling himself in a more comfortable position.

“Don’t look so grumpy! You look like Squall!” the host only snorts. “It’s not like we didn’t have any childhood! It just went faster than yours, is all. Besides, even if the rules prevent us to do everything we want today doesn’t mean we will be deprived of choice forever!”

“Deprived of choice?”

“Don’t sass me, mister Grump-pants. If I use clever words tonight, maybe you will smile tomorrow.”

Rinoa laughter is enough to make her auburn friend smile wide, and she notices a almost imperceptible smirks making his way up on Squall’s lips. It reminds her of her childhood slumber party: except for the fact there is a guy, and that no one is offended he is in presence of a girl in her underwear.

“I was almost tempted to do it when I transferred from Trabia” like every time she mentions her hometown, Selphie’s face twitches. “But I thought it would be better to stay inside the faculty for the first year or so. Make new friends, stuff like that. “

When he sees her lost expression, Squall supplies:

“Most of the recruits within Gardens are orphans from the Sorceress War. Because they have to take care of young children and the size of one facility cannot be extended, the Seed above twenty years old have to live outside the garden. It also leaves a possibility for those who didn’t have a choice before to quit the military lifestyle. Some former Seed work as private mercenaries, or open their own business.” His steel blue eyes are looking right through her before he turns to Selphie. “If you had taken your own apartment, you might have missed the Garden taking off”.

You might have been left all alone, is what he means. It seems like a recurrent subject for all mercenaries here. Even for lone wolves like Squall, being left behind by the Garden and separated from the rest of the soldiers seem like the worst outcome. Since her arrival, she keeps noticing how strong the bond within the faculty is. It makes her wonder why Edea wanted to make the place like a big family, if she was so entitled to have it killing her later on.

“Yes! I was lucky to change my mind. But as soon as I am twenty, I’m buying the most fancy oven I can find!”

“Wait, what?”

“I already started saving money for it” Selphie keeps on, her fierce scowl replacing her usual bouncy smile. “And I will make layer cakes with it! They will be big, and I will start on learning cake decoration too. The most you can do in common kitchen is muffins and cookies, and it has to be for a special event or for a cooking course, because otherwise, according to them” she spat” it’s not a necessity to have a skill in bakery. And I want to have real homemade birthday cakes.” she adds after a moment of silence.

Stunned, her friends can only nod.

The curfew rings through the mic of the faculty and the lights automatically shuts down, leaving only a blue halo coming from the emergency lighting to draw their silhouettes in the darkness. They can hear the last shuffling around or students hurrying themselves to their rooms before being caught by an instructor on patrol, the permanent buzzing of the wind turbines of the Garden, and the sounds of waves crashing against the coasts of Fisherman Horizon. They settles themselves in their beds.

It take less than a minute before Rinoa can see in the dark. The emergency lights are made make it easy to navigate in the facility, and to be able to recognized people as well. Her eyes’ cross Selphie’s. The girls make faces at each other above Squall lying form, and end up giggling like schoolgirls. After such a intense day, it is a good relief to be a little insane.

“And you Squall” Selphie doesn’t bother to whisper despite the curfew. “What are you going to do when you have your own living space?”

“Not buy a dog, that is for sure.”

Angelo growls, as if he understood what the teen had just said, and the girls shared a laugh again. Selphie did not give up though.

“Come on “she nugdes him with her foot while he lets out an exasperate sigh. “You gonna buy a fancy car? Start gardening? Oh no, I knwo, fishing! I heard Balamb is a great fishing place!”

“If I tell you know, will you two leave me alone and finally go to sleep?”

Rinoa nods -can he see her? She is not sure -and Selphie cheers.

“Fine” he concedes in defeat “I will get a King size bed that I will not share, the last TV and home theater system so I can have marathon movie nights. Discussion over, go to sleep.”

After a few attempts by Selphie to bring up new topics (”What is your favorite movie than?” “If you don’t sleep now, I am kicking you out”), silence falls in the room, reminding Rinoa how tired she was before this conversation.

She turns around and in the faded blue halo, the glossy covers of movie boxes on the shelves framing the bed is making her wonder, indeed, what movie he likes the most. Action, she bets, but she could be surprised after all. She can see a few old comedies in black and white she used to watch on Saturday nights with her parents, it was her father’s favorite. It’s difficult imagining the stoic young man laughing watching them…there is also a thriller she never had the chance to watch before leaving Timber, and the last trendy crime series tucked under the recording of the famous poetry play Loveless in Galbadia theater.

They may not have been able to enjoy childhood like they should have, she thinks, but adulthood is for them the promise of happier days. She can’t wait to see it happen. She dreams of king-size layer cakes and movie-marathon Friday nights.

She woke up the next day terribly sore. Her neck cracks, her butt hurts and her tights are screaming for mercy. Selphie is an early bird as well, except she looks like she is ready to take on the world…or burst in laughter?

When she turns towards Squall, the guys is still fast asleep. Kodawaki told them it was his body recovering from what he endured in D-Distric prison, and that he should return back to his normal sleeping pattern soon, but that’s not what makes her muffling her burstling giggles with both hand on her mouth.

Squall is curled up on his mattress, covers high up, leavings his legs uncovered. Angelo has found his way on the his bed during the night and his snuggled against his back, snoring softly against Squall’s hair.

Archenemies indeed.


End file.
